Prophets of Warning

There are those that say predictions are only published after an event; this may be the case, but not always. In 1898 a young writer called Morgan Robertson wrote a fiction story about a great 70,000 tonne ocean liner, the safest liner in the world. It sank in 1912, hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage with the loss of 2500 passengers.¢It carried only 24 lifeboats. Titanic Just fourteen years later in 1912, the 66,000 tonne ocean liner Titanic was making her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, when it hit an iceberg and sank. Most of the 2,224 people on board perished. It had only 20 lifeboats. Morgan Robertson’s story was uncanny, but what was even more uncanny; was the fact that the liner in his story was called SS Titan.

Not all predictions are as near as Morgan Robertsons’ however. In the 16th century, the French prophet Nostradamus made a prophecy. He said a German leader called Hister would be born in Austria by simple parents. That Hister would be the defender of Poland and Hungary. Not surprisingly the Nazi propaganda machine in World War II jumped on the findings, and doctored them. They claimed Hitler was the saviour forecast by Nostradamus, and he would be Europe’s saviour from the oppressive West. The false predictions were printed on leaflets and dropped over France and Belgium. Needless to say, the Allies retaliated by dropping leaflets over Europe with their own doctored versions of the Nostradamus predictions.

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Since the dawn of man, his mind has solved the most intriguing mysteries. Progress has revolutionized mans thinking and the world he lives in, but his mind with all its complexities remains the greatest mystery he has yet to solve.